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Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
This 2-volume study examines the reality of Hindu worship in northern India from the perspective of its popular manifestation. In rural areas, practical Hinduism differed dramatically from organized Vedic Hinduism and included cult worship of a multitude of local deities which were not formally recognized by the Vedas but exerted a greater influence on the rhythms, meanings and decisions of day-to-day life. Crooke's study may have been the first to look at the religion through eyes other than those of missionaries or the Hindu elite, seeking to fill a gap in European intellectual knowledge of India by documenting living traditions in a serious and accessible manner._x000D_ Volume 1:_x000D_ The Godlings of Nature_x000D_ The Heroic and Village Godlings_x000D_ The Godlings of Disease_x000D_ The Worship of the Sainted Dead_x000D_ Worship of the Malevolent Dead_x000D_ Volume 2:_x000D_ The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts_x000D_ Tree and Serpent Worship_x000D_ Totemism and Fetishism_x000D_ Animal-Worship_x000D_ The Black Art_x000D_ Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies
Among all the great religions of the world there is none more catholic, more assimilative than the mass of beliefs which go to make up what is popularly known as Hinduism. To what was probably its original form—a nature worship in a large degree introduced by the Aryan missionaries—has been added an enormous amount of demonolatry, fetishism and kindred forms of primitive religion, much of which has been adopted from races which it is convenient to describe as aboriginal or autochthonous. The same was the case in Western lands. As the Romans extended their Empire they brought with them and included in the national pantheon the deities of the conquered peoples. Greece and Syria, Egypt, Gallia and Germania were thus successively laid under contribution. This power of assimilation in the domain of religion had its advantages as well as its dangers. While on the one hand it tended to promote the unity of the empire, it degraded, on the other hand, the national character by the introduction of the impure cults which flourished along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. But, besides these forms of religion which were directly imported from foreign lands, there remained a stratum of local beliefs which even after twenty centuries of Christianity still flourish, discredited though they may be by priests and placed under the ban of the official creed. Thus in Greece, while the high gods of the divine race of Achilles and Agamemnon are forgotten, the Nereids, the Cyclopes and the Lamia still live in the faith of the peasants of Thessaly. So in modern Tuscany there is actually as much heathenism as catholicism, and they still believe in La Vecchia Religione—“the old religion;”—and while on great occasions they have recourse to the priests, they use magic and witchcraft for all ordinary purposes. It is part of the object of the following pages to show that in India the history of religious belief has been developed on similar lines. Everywhere we find that the great primal gods of Hinduism have suffered grievous degradation. Throughout the length and breadth of the Indian peninsula Brahma, the Creator, has hardly more than a couple of shrines specially dedicated to him. Indra has, as we shall see, become a vague weather deity, who rules the choirs of fairies in his heaven Indra-loka: Varuna, as Barun, has also become a degraded weather godling, and sailors worship their boat as his fetish when they commence a voyage. The worship of Agni survives in the fire sacrifice which has been specialized by the Agnihotri Brâhmans. Of Pûshan and Ushas, Vâyu and the Maruts, hardly even the names survive, except among the small philosophical class of reformers who aim at restoring Vedism, a faith which is as dead as Jupiter or Aphrodite.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Saiyid Ali Naqvi has brought a wealth of knowledge in water resources development, acquired over a 58-year career, to this study of the impact of the harnessing of the Indus waters on the evolution and development of the fabric of society in the region. He follows the Indus in its journey from around 7000 bc to present times, as he develops his thesis that the processes of social change in the region that now constitutes Pakistan are inextricably linked to the harnessing of the Indus waters. At its inception in 1947, Pakistan, with 85 per cent of its population dependent on agriculture, was an agrarian country. Today, with two-thirds of its population still living in villages, the country remains dependent on agriculture. Despite the use of machinery by big landowners, the agrarian social structure remains fettered by quasi-feudal and tribal customs. The book makes a critical assessment of the pace of the social change process in Pakistan and finds that it has reached a phase which could at best be characterized as ‘quasi-industrial’. This disappointing situation is due to the slow pace of industrialization of the agriculture sector. The book provides the research, historical facts, and insights for an informed public debate on the policy measures for overcoming impediments and accelerating the social change process.